LittleBill

I'm impressed! Three years? We've been here 17 years, and we are still working on the place. The pace has picked up considerably since the last child moved out. We've probably done close to 50% of the inside since then. But when you live in a place that long, pretty soon you find yourself doing stuff you did before, and remembering when you said to yourself, "I pity the poor guy who has to take this apart!"

WTF!?! Double post again? Does this happen to others, or am I special?

@@LipstickLady Yabut! You're in Virginny! It's COLD cold up here. When I leave my Water in the truck overnight, I don't have any water for the next day because it turned into a giant ice cube. For example, it is 21° here right now. The wind chill is 5°. I like the little cooler idea though. It would make meals a little more interesting while driving around.

@@cdsjjotn So, you're asking me to believe that you actually FINISHED renovating an old house?!? I don't think I will live long enough to get this place done. And you are right. Squirrels are pesky rodents (tree rats, we call them) but they are tasty. They don't really taste like chicken. Maybe closer to rabbit. It has been a while since I ate one. I could very likely shoot a deer from my front porch, but the neighbors would take exception. Before we bought this place, and before the development, the man who used to live here shot three deer out the bathroom window. Now that's a comfortable way to hunt!

@ That "on the road" stuff gets real old real fast. I don't travel anymore for work, but I can drive 100 miles in a day just running various errands. I've been stashing protein bars and even some canned shakes in my truck, but with the onset of colder weather, freezing is an issue. The shakes will be the big problem. With the bars, I just have to remember to put one in my pocket and let it warm up a bit before trying to gnaw on it.

Yeah, me too. During pre-op, I think they were messing with me on purpose, telling me I might not like beef anymore, or smoked meat, or bacon, blah blah blah. I was worried I might turn into a vegetarian, start wearing Birkenstocks, and buy a Prius. None of that happened. Does it really cause you pain, or do you just feel really full? Early in my soft food phase, I would get full very quickly. One more bite, and I was uncomfortably full. And I mean literally, one bite would do it. As time progressed, I was able to eat more, but I can still cross that line between full and uncomfortable if I do not pace myself and pay attention.

I must be special, because I haven't seen it yet. But now I'm curious.

@@cdsjjotn That sounds like a good plan!

We call it "cat food". Well, I call it cat food. Mrs LittleBill either glares at me or just rolls her eyes. I stock up on it when it goes on sale at the grocery store.

@@Aggiemae Thank you. Whoever lived here years ago planted bunches of walnut and mulberry for the fencerows between fields. And of course, walnut has a way of taking over. The squirrels who live in the metal porch roof on our second floor sit up there and eat the meat out of the walnuts, and then drop the husks down onto the porch. For some reason, Jester loves crunching them up.

That's a lot of fixins, but it does sound good!

@@Aggiemae We are stuffed with walnut trees here. They are all over the place. The neighbor's cats are well fed, fat and lazy, and Jester the dog keeps everything else at bay. The place is crawling with squirrels. We even had a couple of incursions into the house from flying squirrels. I wrote a story about one of those adventures.

I don't know. I guess my Maxpedition bag would qualify, but it doesn't usually go to the shop. It rides in the truck. Are they on the site here? I will have to check them out.

@@LipstickLady I took up leather working as a hobby recently. I'm going to have to make a holster for my Quest bar so I don't forget it again. I'm not sure how I'm going to fit it on my belt. My belt is getting shorter and there's a bunch of stuff on it already.

It can be all over the place, but one thing it is not, is linear. I've lost four pounds in three days, and then one pound for the following week. I have to resist the temptation to get on the scale. This is long term. At least, I hope it is. I would hate to have gone through all this and given up all the good food and then get hit by a truck.

I'd only chew a little bit. I wouldn't want to be disarmed.

Double post deleted. This forum is slower than molasses. Wait! Molasses is bad for us! It's slower than... than... me running uphill!

There are a bunch of Quest bars I really like. The top of my list is occupied by their Mixed Berry Bliss. Close on the heels of that is a new one, Apple Pie. They also have a couple of really good chocolate ones. The double chocolate chunk should satisfy anyone's craving, and Mrs LittleBill really likes the Mint Chocolate Chip. They have a huge assortment of others as well.

@@Aggiemae Don't forget your can opener.

So much for the theory that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

@@sarahb309 My favorite exercises are pushing my luck and jumping to conclusions. Seriously, if you are looking for cheap, it is hard to beat walking. And if that gets to boring, try hiking over rough terrain, climbing, etc.

@@KristenVSG2014 Haha, I remember telling my kids one time when they were being particularly intractable and I was trying to eat, "Don't get between me and my food!" They teased me for years about that one.

@@suzzzzz Oh yeah. Hard lessons like this one take root real fast. I'll be like my friend the squirrel, with protein bars stashed everywhere I can think of.

I lost a bunch of weight pre op, and then the first few weeks post op. All of a sudden, I have come to a screeching halt. It happens. Your body is adjusting. It will pick up again. It has to.

I am finally getting back into my shop and doing some heavier work now that my weight lifting restrictions are safely behind me. I work on our property in an old garage converted to a shop. The shop is only about 130' from the house, but once I get up there and get going, I tend to lose track of time. In the old days, I would work until I was so hungry I couldn't stand it, and then come down to the house and eat an enormous meal. That's one of the reasons I'm here today, I suspect. Today, I discovered all old habits die hard. I've been real good about keeping on a tight schedule for eating. When I go to the shop, I always take a Protein bar with me, and of course, the fridge is stocked with plenty of Water. Today proved to be my undoing though. Just as I described, I went off to the shop, Protein Bar in hand (actually, it was in my shirt pocket). I was busily working on Mrs LittleBill's drawers (for the kitchen!). I came across a technical issue I wanted to check, so back down to the house I lumbered (do you see what I did there?). For some reason unbeknownst to me, I removed my protein bar from my pocket and laid it on my desk in my office. As I think back upon it, I am pretty sure I intended to eat it, but looking at the clock, it was not time. So I forgot about it. With one problem solved, and another in the offing, but unnoticed, I headed back to the shop armed with the knowledge I needed to continue my drawer construction. One thing led to another to another to another. I had just one more task to finish, and I could take a break. Meanwhile, I was ignoring the increasingly frantic pleas from my tiny stomach to PUT SOMETHING IN HERE!!!! My old habits had the bit in their teeth, and they ran with it. By the time I realized what I had done to myself, I was so hungry I was ready to eat my left arm. I had also gotten very irritable, and edgy. In all seriousness, it really did shock me. I was not prepared for the physiological reaction to not eating on time. I will be stocking the shop with an ample supply of Protein Bars for future use. Chewing my arm off is not an option. And while wood might have Fiber, it sure doesn't have much protein.